Can health reform succeed without public health professionals? Not a chance, says a new assessment released today by APHA in concert with its Midyear Meeting. According to APHA’s Public Health Workforce Provisions in the Affordable Care Act, the law’s health promotion and disease prevention goals are at risk without sustained, adequate investment in the public health workforce.
While the Affordable Care Act reauthorized and created several new programs that could increase the supply and expertise of the public health workforce, only 11 of the 19 ACA provisions assessed in the report have received funding. Those that have received monies have been funded at substantially lower levels than authorized.
Further exacerbating the challenge, nearly 20 percent of the governmental public health workforce has been lost since 2008 as a result of the economic recession, resulting in cuts to public health services such as immunizations, prenatal care, and air and water quality monitoring, among others.
To read the report, visit http://www.apha.org/advocacy/reports/reports/
Can health reform succeed without a strong public health workforce? What do you think?
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